Thursday, February 26, 2015

Our Emery girl was a little little while my family was here.. {actually to be honest she was a little little when we actually blessed her still but we really wanted to be able to have some family in town} so when she was just a day shy of 3 weeks old while the Bingham side of the family was in town Blake gave Emery the most beautiful blessing.

And she was just a little angel thank goodness.. she didn't cry at all that morning and smiled through the blessing.

The whole day was so sweet..

The experience made me feel extra grateful for this little family of mine and for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I adore how sweet and cute and little she is now but I feel so humbled and excited to be a part of her life as she becomes the woman her Heavenly Father wants her to be.

I know that this gospel is true and that He has had such a hand in her life already and I can only hope that she can see that our Heavenly Father can make such more out of our lives than we can on our own.. and my heart feels so warm thinking that I will be able to teach and grow with this beautiful wonderful baby of ours.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

So Emery is so awesome at going out and running errands and basically anything on the go..

In fact she is easier I think when we are out of the house and doing things than when we are just at home taking it easy..

{I think it could be because a lot of the time she is in a little carrier close to me.. and boy does that sweet girl love to be held}

But this adventure in particular I have to be honest I was really back and forth and really a little skeptical about what type of parenting choice this would be..

[I even googled if this was something that parents ever did.. which they did.. but of course.. I mean judging from the fact that I felt the need to google it.. there were mixed reviews]

But before Em was born we vowed and we vowed that we would still get out and do fun things after we had her..

So after Blake found some noise silencing headphones that you wear shooting and after a couple little personal pep talks about how we need to have fun and experience life still and if Emery is unhappy at all we can just leave right.. no harm done
I finally convinced myself we would just drive separate and try it..
But.. to I don't know why.. but my surprise.. baby girl is a troop.er.

So we all got to go to our first hockey game!

Which actually is definitely quieter than an NBA game..
[Now.. don't get me wrong.. it's not exactly like you are sitting in church.. but it didn't seem to bother Emery at all]

The only problem was how am I supposed to watch a bunch of grunting guys hit a puck around when I have my favorite little girl in my arms..

{Have I mentioned that my productivity level has gone down.. 100%.. in the last couple of months and no one can figure out why.. ? haha}

And eventually the little girl just fell asleep in her little bjorn carrier all together.

I'm sure I am going to miss these days when she can walk and move around on her own.

Hockey definitely is a MANS sport.. wow. There were three fights
during the game and the whole thing was pretty fun to watch but
intense.. I definitely wouldn't even get out there on that ice with
them.
{with or without the baby}

The boys of course all had to sit on one row because the girls just don't cut it as good serious sports watching partners clearly..

But that was okay with us.. and it was fun to get out and have some girl time catching up with these sweet ladies after a month of family/baby adjusting.
I'm so grateful that we have such fun friends that want to drag our behinds out of our house and baby adjusting comfort zone to experience this fun city again.

And finally.. thank you Texas for providing us with so much entertainment..
and always reminding us that we "should have been a Cowboy".. even when we are going to the bathroom.

Even though lately I have definitely been wishing we were a little closer to family.. we still are really liking it here and all of the new experiences it's brought our little family of three.

Monday, February 9, 2015

So I'm not 100% sure when our little Em Cakes is going to really be comprehending exactly what's going on in the world...

But when she does trust me we are so ready and probably overly excited to show her the finer things in life.

Blake had a three day weekend and even though he still had to study (dang Optometry school)..

Emery had the cutest little bear suit that I felt like needed to be appreciated.

[[& of course in Texas is probably going to be too warm to wear in a couple of days weeks..]]

So since we have a year pass to the zoo, we decided that we probbbably should take Emery to meet the real bears and show her what is going on in the world of animals for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately she didn't QUITE connect with the bears as well as one might have hoped seeing as they had so much in common this afternoon..

BUT she did seem very interested in the aquarium and the reptile exhibits..

I don't know if it was because the exhibits are closer so she could actually see them, or because the light wasn't so bright and there were lots of different colors, OR if it's just because judging from her night time track record she is probably nocturnal so it seemed more appropriate for her to be awake when it is dark..

But whatever it is.. it was pretty dang cute.

One of my favorite things about this stage of her life is that she is starting to be able to see everything (and by everything I'm pretty sure I mean like faces and colors.. ya know the important things) and is just so amazed by it and getting more and more happy to see you/interactive.

I like to think she didn't know what to think of the snakes and will stay away from them.

Those things were crazy huge and still giving me nightmares.

And then since we kind of had to make our trip short we just kind of hit the highlights.

{we still haven't seen all of the San Antonio zoo.. but I'm not complaining because that just means we get to keep going back right?}

Which of course was the anteater.. I think this guy is the goofiest walking/funniest animal.. like ever..

So Blake humors me for a little while.. sweet guy.

What he doesn't know is that I am trying to concoct a way to get the zoo to let us have this animal visit our house and get rid of all of our bugs.. because that'd be cheaper than bug spray.. right?

Stay posted on that one..

And mostly because Emery's enthusiasm.. clearly..

We spent some time playing with the birds.. I was you tubing bird calls/songs and it was so funny the kookaburras were awesome and looking and flying frantically around trying to find the other birds..

{what did I ever do without a smart phone..}

I'm not sure if that's mean or not..

zoos probably in general as much as I love them aren't animals ideal living quarters poor things..

But oh man was I enjoying watching these animals hear something it seemed like they understood and responded to. Animals (minus anything that could eat me.. unless they are very safely contained) are the coolest.

And then, rather appropriately I thought considering Emery's amazement with the snakes, we ended the day with Blake teaching our daughter the snake rhyme about how to know if they are poisonous.

It was pretty sweet.

I was just in heaven strolling around with our little family of three. Even though it has felt so natural having Emery in our family it all still feels really new and exciting and even though I am loving her cuddly tiny stage,

I am excited for when she can enjoy the zoo and have fun with us..

Buttt until then I guess we will just have to enjoy it for her and be happy she lets us bring her dressed like the animals.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

- Elder M. Russell Ballard

There really are so many things that I want to blog about but I feel like I have had a hard time getting very much time at once to sit down and blog..

And even though we have had some big events I feel like I have so many little "moments" that just melt my heart and I hope that I can remember during those times when I am exhausted {so wait pretty much.. always lately..).. and just remember forever.

Even though it seems like our house just can not stay clean anymore... We have this beautiful face, that whether it's spotless or not, makes it even more of a home.

And she is ours. She is mine.

I can't kiss those sweet round cheeks enough.. she is the sweetest softest best cuddler.

But I definitely am figuring out what I am doing as I go.. she gets to be my little guinea pig.

Annnd.. I get this face quite a few times during the day..

Lucky for me she can't talk yet or I'm sure I would get a lot of um.. really mom? 's.

And it's so fun to watch her discover her own emotions and lately she has been so much more alert and interactive.. and of course not ALL of her emotions are happy..

But she has the cutest reactions and noises and smiles.

She definitely is not the most independent baby in the world..

Or the town.. or ya know our block probably even.

So this is what happens while I am doing my make up.. or cleaning.. or shopping.. or going anywhere.. or basically you name it.

And I blamed having family in town for so long to hold her but I feel that we haven't been doing very much to change this,

Blake and I are such suckers for her and when we are with friends someone is always wanting to hold her.. so she is held.. quite often.

Which is good for my heart.. and bad for my back.

And even though it is so fun to have my cute little side kick.. some days it is a little hard when I don't feel like I am accomplishing all of the things that I wanted to.

{which is seeming to be always lately}

This was one of those days.. and finally when I started carrying her around in her little carrier she fell asleep and after we had been sitting down for a little bit she reached her hand over and just held onto my arm like she was hugging me. Kind of like mom this is all I wanted.

I know this probably isn't going to be quite as heart warming to anyone as it is to me but it was just what I needed to remind me what was really important during the day... and how lucky I was to be taking care of her.

Cuddling in our teal pants fix everything around here.

Blake won't match with me so I have to train Emery while she is young! haha

My little Em is the best errand runner {probably because she loves her little Bjorn carrier} but the other day we were out and it was SO cold for Texas..

And by so cold I mean like rainy and probably 30 degrees.. you know.

But she was being so good and we walked by this little baby sweatshirt and my heart just melted a little bit so of course since we had a gift card we needed it.

I keep thinking we could be in trouble having a girl first during this school phase of our life..

Babies are the funnest to dress.

And she seems to like being warm.. go figure.

I posted these pictures on Instagram the other week when we just had the longest day and I was exhausted more than I ever thought was possible.. but as I was sitting there holding her looking at pictures my heart was absolutely melting.

There is nothing like feeling like you can make everything right in someone's world.

It makes me feel like when I am about to literally die I can keep going because she needs me too.

We have been pretty sick over here.. head colds.. sore throats.. runny noses. It seems like we just can't kick them. Probably because we can't get enough cumulative sleep to get over it and there were some nights at like 2 when she would cry at night to be fed and I would have to cry a little too..

She still is needing to eat about every 2 hours like clock work and I am praying that it will get a little bit longer soon.

But somehow in the morning when she wakes up and I go to pick her up and she smiles at me my heart skips a beat and I just want to squeeze her and kiss her and sleep seems so unimportant.

{too bad our bodies think they need it so badly.. huh }

Oh my gosh this kills me. There is a little mirror on the top of her swing and in the morning she will just smile and coo at herself like you wouldn't believe. It is the CUTEST thing in the world watching her discover new things and seeing her so happy and excited.

Oh how I wish I knew what was going on in that sweet little mind.

And these two.. they have such a sweet relationship already. Blake really is the sweetest dad.. always wanting to hold and play with Emery.. they dance around and do little tricks together. I think he is even more of a sucker than I am when it comes to holding her when she wants to be held. He is the best...

I always knew he would be but it's fun to watch them together.

And he is so PATIENT.. which I am definitely voluntarily or not am getting more of lately..

but it's not something that comes as naturally for me.

I really couldn't have gotten through this last month and a half

without him.. there are nights when I just feel like I can't move anymore or I just don't know how to cheer her up {no one takes pictures of those moments.. but I like to think they do happen to more than just us} and it feels like he comes home and saves us.

Just about everyday I think that I am so grateful that I waited until I was married to have a baby so that she could have such a wonderful dad and how BLESSED we are to be in a position where we can take care of her and I can stay home and raise her..

I genuinely feel like it's the most important thing I will do in this life and such a sweet blessing.

I would also just like to note that her sleeping is the funniest.. I'm glad that she is a remarkable multi tasker and takes this opportunity of nap time to get an arm work out in.

Well hello..

& Welcome! I’m Hailey, a new mom in a new city- married to my very best friend and mom to my very favorite sweetest baby girl in all the land- and this is my way of remembering and sharing my sweet family’s life adventures.